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Chapter 9 – Promoting the Interactive Service Experience
Tangibilizing the service means making the service more concrete, thus enabling customers to understand it better.
Nonsearchability - intangibles cannot be searched or inspected before they are purchased. Physical attributes such as the appearance of a health club and type of equipment installed can be checked in advance, but the experience of working with a trainer can only be determined through extended personal involvement
• Shouldice Hospital in Toronto specializes in hernia repair. It offers prospective patients an opportunity to view an online simulation and explains the hospital experience with hernia repair on its website. It helps patients prepare mentally for the experience and shows them what role they need to play in service delivery to ensure a successful surgery and satisfying experience
2. Capitalize of WOM communication – more credible than commercial sources because it comes from personal or impartial sourcesReference other customers: we have done work for ABC Corp; please call Mr. Kim, their manager, who oversaw the implementation of our project.Create exciting promotions that get people talking about the great service the firm provides.Develop referral incentive schemes: offer current customers free or discounted service in return for introducing new customers
3. Make the Service UnderstoodEven if customers understand what a service is supposed to do, they may have trouble distinguishing one firm from another.
Solution: provide tangible clues related to service performance, highlight quality of facilities and equipment, and emphasize employee characteristics such as their qualifications, experience, commitment, and professionalism.
FedEx ads show the awards it has received for being rated as the highest in customer satisfaction for air, ground, and international delivery from J.D. Power and Associates, widely known and respected for its customer satisfaction research in numerous industries
4. Establish Advertising ContinuityMcDonald’s - Golden ArchesCreate recognition, reinforce service image
MasterCard’s TV and print ads emphasize the tangible things that can be purchased with its credit card- complete with a listing of the price of each item. In each ad, all of the items purchased with the card lead to a “priceless” experience ( a clever and memorable reference to the concept of intangibility)
Enhancing the vividness of services advertising:– Interactive imagery uses pictorial representations,
verbal associations, and letter accentuations that combine an organization's name and its service to establish a strong link between service name and performance in customer minds.
– Logo for Dominoes Pizza is a pizza box with domino markings (pictorial representations)
2. Promise what is possibleMake Realistic PromisesOffer Service Guarantees
For those who arrive at the airport with only time enough to catch their flight, parking has been a nightmare until the development of GoldParker System, which guarantees a convenient parking place to its members
Offer ChoicesCreate Tiered-Value Service Offerings
Eddie Bauer, a catalog retailer offers three different delivery options: 5 to 7 days via standard delivery; 3 to 4 days via express delivery; or 2 days via express plus delivery. The delivery rates are higher for faster service.
Create Effective Vertical CommunicationsCompany newsletters and magazines, emails, recognition programs; keep employees informed of everything that is being conveyed to customers through external marketing
Create Effective Horizontal CommunicationsCoordination between departments; open channels of communication between marketing, sales, and operations.